For a season of transition, most of which will be led by conductors unfamiliar to the Colorado Music Festival audience, it was absolutely the right call to have the man who can now justly be called the most prominent face of Boulder's classical music scene standing on the podium as guest conductor.

With the departure of longtime CMF music director Michael Christie, the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra's Michael Butterman, who just completed his eighth season at the helm, is now the face of Boulder's classical music scene. Boulder audiences know and trust both his commitment to the community and to his art.

It was not a surprise, then, that Chautauqua Auditorium was packed almost to capacity on Sunday night. Butterman, usually loquacious in his interactions with audiences, held his brief comments until the last piece of the evening, letting the music do the talking beforehand. It was a program that was both full and light, both strenuous and relaxing.

Michael Butterman, of the Boulder Philharmonic, got to lead a performance under the lights of the Colorado Music Festival's season opener. (Glenn Ross / Courtesy photo)

After an assured, confident journey through Mozart's "Haffner" Symphony, Butterman welcomed another Boulder favorite, pianist Christopher Taylor, to the stage. The selection of the "Burleske" for piano and orchestra by Richard Strauss was dictated by 2014 being the sesquicentennial year of that composer's birth, but it also was appropriate to the aesthetic of Butterman's program.

Strauss, known for huge orchestrations in his later tone poems and operas, wrote the "Burleske" for a standard-size ensemble, but the 20-minute work, stemming from the beginning of his career, demands concentration and focus from both the performers and the audience. Despite its generally lighthearted, even comic tone, the piece is technically demanding for the soloist and orchestra, its many repetitions requiring almost instant interpretive decisions.

Taylor, of course, was impeccable in the exceedingly difficult solo part. The piece is by no means standard repertoire for concerto soloists, but the Boulder native clearly was committed to its challenges. Despite its relatively small size, the orchestra is asked to do a great deal in the "Burleske," no player more so than the timpanist, who memorably presents the opening "motto" and remains unusually prominent throughout. Peter Wilson took obvious delight in the rare opportunity to play this exposed and active part, and he almost stole several moments from Taylor himself.

Despite some minor imperfections just past the midpoint of the "Burleske," it was a viscerally exciting performance from the soloist and the ensemble.

The second half of the program emphasized the intimate "summer serenade" type of concert that Butterman said he wanted to present — a program that probably wouldn't work in his usual venue, Macky Auditorium. The violins, typically the busiest orchestral section, were finished for the night.

The young Strauss' gorgeous one-movement Serenade for Winds placed the excellent CMF woodwind players in their best light. This continued when they were joined by the lower strings for the more substantial closing work, the Second Serenade by Johannes Brahms.

Butterman took the Brahms Serenade at an unusually fast clip in all five movements, including the haunting slow movement in central position, but the performance sparkled with clarity, never more so than at the end, where Regina H. Yost's piercing piccolo placed a capstone on a memorable, truly unique evening of music-making in Boulder.

Week 1 of the 2014 CMF season continues Tuesday with the first of three "mash-up" concerts directed by Steve Hackman, starting with his own arrangement and combination of Beethoven's "Eroica" Symphony with Coldplay's greatest hits. Lawrence Golan conducts the return of the "Patriotism and Pops" family concert Thursday night.

Foster pours in 14 to lead EaglesBOULDER — As Broomfield head boys basketball coach Terrence Dunn likes to say, senior guard Sam Foster is usually the guy the Eagles turn to when they need a big play. Full Story

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story